Pubdate: Thu, 11 Nov 2010
Source: Maine Campus, The (ME Edu)
Copyright: 2010 Robert Sharpe
Contact:  http://www.mainecampus.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4901
Author: Robert Sharpe

MARIJUANA BAN DOPEY, REINFORCES FOOLISH REEFER MADNESS MYTH

If health outcomes determined drug laws instead of cultural
norms,marijuana would be legal. Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never
been shown to cause an overdose death, nor does it share the addictive
properties of tobacco. Marijuana can be harmful if abused, but jail
cells are inappropriate as health interventions and ineffective as
deterrents.

The first marijuana laws were enacted in response to Mexican
immigrationduring the early 1900s, despite opposition from the
American Medical Association. Dire warnings that marijuana inspires
homicidal rages have been counterproductive at best. White Americans
did not even begin to smoke pot until a soon-to-be entrenched federal
bureaucracy began funding reefer madness propaganda.

Marijuana prohibition has failed miserably. The United States has
higher rates of marijuana use than the Netherlands, where marijuana is
legally available to adults. The only clear winners in the war on
marijuana are drug cartels and shameless tough-on-drugs politicians
who've built careers confusing the drug war's collateral damage with a
relatively harmless plant.

Robert Sharpe, MPA

Policy Analyst

Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, DC  
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D